Girl, 9, found hanging in defunct Kanpur college owned by UP minister; police launch probe

Kanpur, Jan 20 (PTI) A nine-year-old girl was found hanging inside a classroom of a defunct degree college in Kanpur's Ghatampur area, police said on Tuesday.

The girl, Vaishnavi alias Rani, was found hanging on Monday from a ceiling fan of a classroom of Baba Baijnath Degree College, which has been closed since 2016.

A television set was found switched on in the room at the time of discovery, police said. A stole wrapped around the girl's neck as a noose.

The college is owned by an Uttar Pradesh minister, an officer said on condition of anonymity.

The incident came to light after the college watchman alerted the police. Ghatampur police and a forensic team rushed to the spot and collected evidence, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime and Headquarters) Vinod Kumar Singh said.

The body was sent for a post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of death, he added.

The police said Vaishnavi had been living on the abandoned college premises with her grandmother, Mamata, who has been missing since the incident.

Efforts are underway to trace her, the JCP told reporters.

Vaishnavi was a class 2 student at a government primary school in Kripalpur.

The police said her school identity card listed her grandfather as her father and her grandmother as her mother, instead of her biological parents.

The girl's stepfather, Manjeet, a resident of Babupurwa, told police that Vaishnavi was his wife Laxmi's daughter from her first marriage and had been living with her grandmother for several years.

"My wife, our two younger daughters, and I live in Babupurwa. Vaishnavi stayed with her nani at the closed college in Ghatampur," he said.

Manjeet said he last met Vaishnavi on Raksha Bandhan, and then she showed no signs of distress.

"Late on Monday night, the watchman called to say she was found hanging. When we reached the college, my mother-in-law was not there," he said, adding that Mamata's phone has been switched off since.

The watchman, Kamta, said Mamata usually visited the college premises every night to check whether the gate was locked.

"On Monday, she did not turn up for a long time. During my round, I noticed the room door was open. When there was no response, I went inside and found the child hanging," he said.

Assistant CP (Ghatampur) Krishnakant Yadav said all angles were being examined.

"We are probing both homicide and suicide possibilities. The forensic team has collected evidence, and further action will be taken after the post-mortem report. Efforts are on to locate the grandmother," he said. PTI COR ABN VN VN